Secondary

New York's highest court may have shut the door to many future lawsuits over flawed mortgage bonds, ruling investors have six years from the day the deal closed to pursue remedies.

A bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members is urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make risk-sharing a higher priority for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Fannie and Freddie should offer upfront risk-sharing options in order to give lenders an opportunity to lower their guarantee fees while encouraging more private capital and competition to flow into the secondary mortgage market.

The details of the final Des-Moines-Seattle Home Loan Bank deal made it clear why this merger worked when past attempts had not and gave clues as to whether other institutions could one day follow suit. Following are three items that jumped out.

The New York City Housing Development Corp. board approved a $680 million inaugural sustainable neighborhood bond transaction, expected to price next week.

Invitation Homes, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group, is back with its third single-family rental securitization of the year.

Cerberus Capital Management is buying about 4,200 U.S. houses, expanding its foray into home rentals in the industry's largest bulk purchase.

Small banks and nonbank lenders are originating commercial mortgages with lower credit quality than the loans originated by large banks, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

The nationwide gain in income has fed Americans' optimism about housing, which could lead to a more active housing market this year, Fannie Mae said in a new report.

How interested banks, REITs and other investors will be in replacing the Federal Reserve as buyers of mortgage-backed securities insured by government-related entities depends on a wide range of regulatory and economic factors.